And
on the basic research front, says William Snider, a neuroscientist at the Center for the Study of Nervous System Injury at Washington University in St. Louis, the results «are really going to broaden people's thinking about the functions of Bcl - 2 and its family members.»
He was the first president since John F. Kennedy to do that, and if you read that speech, which is still
on the web I believe — both at the Academy web site and my friend Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, is in the
front row — and it's also
on the White House web site — what you will find is although the president was clear about the practical applications of science and technology to our great challenges as I've mentioned, he probably spent two thirds of that talk talking about the importance of
basic science; the importance of fundamental
research in science and technology to our national well - being; and the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.